Iraq election: Four killed in first parliamentary elections since US withdrawal in 2011

At least four people have been killed in blasts near polling stations in northern Iraq, as the country holds its first parliamentary elections since the withdrawal of American armed forces in 2011.

More than 9,000 candidates are contesting the parliamentary election, which will effectively serve as a referendum on prime minister Nuri al-Maliki's rule.

Mr Maliki, a Shiite Muslim who has governed for eight years, is seeking a third term amid rising violence.

Political analysts say no party is likely to win a majority in the 328-seat parliament and forming a government may be hard even if Mr Maliki's State of Law alliance, as expected, wins the biggest number of seats.

Two roadside bombs targeted the same area of a village north-west of the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk, killing two employees of the country's Independent High Electoral Commission, army major general Mohammed Khalaf al-Dulaimi said.

Two security officers were also wounded in the blasts.

Earlier, two other women were killed in the town of Dibs, near Kirkuk, according to a police official and a doctor at a nearby hospital.

Elsewhere, militants seized another polling station in north Iraq, evacuated election staff and voters and set off explosives, destroying the building, according to a security official and an election commission employee.

In Baghdad, two mortars landed near voting centres west of Baghdad but did not cause any casualties, according to Shaker al-Essawi, a senior municipal official.

Maliki postures himself as anti-terrorist leader

The country's western province of Anbar is awash in violence as Sunni Muslim militants challenge the Iraqi military and Shiite militias for territory surrounding Baghdad.

The nation's economy is struggling and Mr Maliki faces criticism that he is aggravating sectarian splits and trying to consolidate power for political gain.

Mr Maliki, who is fending off challenges from Shiite and Sunni rivals, has portrayed himself as his Shiite community's defender against the Sunni Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).

"Is ISIS and Al Qaeda capable of reaching the target for they were established ... bringing down Baghdad and the other provinces and destroying the holy shrines? I say no," Mr Maliki said.

"ISIS is over, but its pockets still exist and we will keep chasing them and the few coming days will witness major developments."

His forces are currently locked in a four-month fight for the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah in Anbar, while his troops surround Fallujah and are waging street battles in Ramadi.

The war has displaced an estimated 420,000 people and the Iraqi electoral commission concedes it can only hold the election in 70 per cent of Anbar, not counting Fallujah.

Fifty people killed in attacks around Iraq

On Monday (local time) 50 people were killed in attacks around Iraq, with some suicide bombers dressed in police and army uniforms.

The burden falls particularly hard on Iraq's Sunni population, who are viewed with suspicion by the mostly Shiite Iraqi security forces and terrorised by ISIS.

Iraq's Sunni political leaders paint Mr Maliki as an authoritarian ruler who wants to destroy their community.

His main Sunni nemesis, the parliament speaker Usama al-Nujaifi, criticised the prime minister this week.

"Our people haven't harvested the national partnership only the rattle of weapon, the language of blood, the education of revenge, the sectarian inciting, the displaced people as a result of terrorism and militias," Mr Nujaifi told supporters recently.

He worried a third term for Mr Maliki would be "an allowance for massacres committed against innocent people".

Negotiations to form government may take 12 months

The coming period will be a test of Iraq's democracy.

It took nine months to seat a government after the last national election in 2010, which took place with tens of thousands of US soldiers in the country.

This time, Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish parties are outspoken about their wish for Mr Maliki to go, but Mr Maliki is still expected to perform better than the others.

Some warn this time the government formation process could take a year.

The negotiations will take place with intense fighting occurring around the edges of Baghdad and Anbar, injecting an element of instability into the proceedings.

In contrast to prior national unity governments, Mr Maliki is expected to seek a stronger coalition built around a majority government.